Payback
by Reinbeauchaser
Summary: One of the turtles finds himself hunted and he has to hide. While he waits in the shadows, holding his breath, he discovers a more urgent and persitent problem. He soon finds that his breath isn't all that he can hold!


_**Disclaimer** - Don't own the turtles. They belong to others._

_Someone sent me an e-mail this morning and it spawned a plot bunny! Not sure how it turned into the following story, I really don't, but I think it has something to do with Mickis and her Brown Musketeers at Stealthy Stories. Mine's a bit less icky, too. :0)_

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**Payback**

by reinbeauchaser

He didn't dare move. He didn't dare even to breathe, although he knew he couldn't hold his breath forever. Yet, he knew that if he held it for too long, his desperate need for air might cause him to make more noise than he should. Not wanting anyone to discover him, he parted his lips, sucking noiselessly, carefully letting oxygen fill his lungs once again. However, when he did, he felt the need to gulp it in, but he forced himself to remain calm and avoid doing so. It would be disastrous if he panicked now.

Tucked deep into the shadows and as far into the crack in the wall that he could wedge his ten-year old body, the young boy crouched. He tried his hardest to stay invisible, all the while hearing 'them' move through the sewers. They were hunting for him and they were close, too close. He wanted to swallow, his throat dry from the chase, but - once again - he couldn't, he dared not. Their keen sensitive ears would most likely detect him - and that was a chance he'd rather not take, thank-you very much.

How long had he been standing there in the crevasse of the sewer wall? How long had they been searching for him? How long had he been running? He didn't know, because time seemed to have stopped all together. In fact, it felt like forever.

Then, one more sensation, one more problem caused him another kind of worry.

_Oh, great,_ _I have to go pee. Why now, why not earlier, why not before this happened?_

Yet, he refused to fidget, even though he really wanted to. He pressed his thighs together, tightened his rump, hoping and praying that 'they' would soon tire of searching the tunnel and leave. Yet, his need to go intensified with each passing second and he couldn't help but chastise himself for taking his brothers' dare earlier, before the chase began.

_Bet you can't drink the whole thing! _

Three against one and the one took the challenge.

_Bet I CAN! _

And he did; he drank the entire liter of soda and now, NOW, he was paying the price for his foolhardiness. Why did he have to treat all dares as challenges to his prowess, his fortitude, his -- his need to prove himself better than his brothers? When they egged him, dared him, to drink 'all of it'…it was a temptation too good to pass up.

_How could I be so…stupid! _

Well, he'd just have to get even - that is, if he could find his way back to the lair without being captured. He really had to go and the faster he returned home, the better, and the more he thought about going, the more desperate he became. For a second, he considered darting from his hiding place and dodging around his pursuers, counting on his skill to...but a suspicious sound halted such a silly thought.

_Oh - they're closer, now, I can hear them! Any minute they'll be passing by - right - where - I'm hiding and, and…oh, oh, I **really** have to go! _

He gritted his teeth and screwed up his face in concentration. He tried not to bounce on his toes, pressing his thighs even tighter against each other. He had to be strong!

He suddenly sensed their presence before he saw them. Dark shapes against a darker backdrop slipped just in front of the opening of his temporary sanctuary, the sewers almost lightless at that point in the tunnels. He was glad for it and held his breath as they passed by, quiet in their need to hear the remotest and softest of sounds. And they were almost too quiet, which meant that he had to be even quieter.

Abruptly, the sound of dripping water echoed from further down the tunnel, a distinctive sound breaking the silence. It pinged and plopped against an already wet environment. Then, a rush of tiny footfalls - rats - added to the noise.

_Plink, plip, plop, scuttle...scuttle_.

The sudden sound added a blessed distraction for him, getting his hunters to focus their hearing passed where he stood. It effectively kept his pursuers from noticing his position. He was sure they would think he was farther up the sewer line, now. Why would rats run about unless something had disturbed them, right?

At least, he hoped they thought that.

Still, his bladder kept calling to him, begging for release, burning uncomfortably between his thighs, and he honestly didn't know if he could fight its persistence anymore.

After the darker shadows left his area, he waited for a moment...and then a moment longer. He knew that if he moved too soon, they might hear him, and, so longer still, he waited. When he was certain they were far enough up the tunnel not to detect him, he silently eased himself towards the opening and the sewer. He waited a minute more, having all he could do to keep from jumping from foot to foot, as his bladder came near to bursting.

Then, hoping they were too far up the way to have time to backtrack and snag him, he exploded in racehorse fashion from the crack. With his legs pumping furiously into a dead run from the crevasse, the poor toilet-deprived boy ran the other way.

Unfortunately and all too quickly, though, he heard the desperate pounding of scrambling feet from behind them as his pursuers took up the chase again. Had they known he was nearby, hiding? They seemed far too prepared.

_Gotta go- gotta GO- GOTTA GO,_ he chanted to himself, running as fast as his legs would carry him.

To his horror, however, he suddenly discovered an interesting and horrific fact. Due to his present need to 'go', he couldn't run nearly as fast as he normally would have and those racing behind him were getting closer and closer and all too quickly, too, until…

**"GOT'EM!"**

He felt a body slam into his, grabbing him from around the back and tossing him to the slim-smudged tunnel floor like a bag of refuse.

"NO, NO! STOP **PLEASE, YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND**!" he yelled, almost crying, as two more bodies piled on top of him. He rolled, trying to get out from under them, clawing and groping his way, but as soon as he found himself free, they grabbed him and kept him from getting away again.

Unfortunately, between the jarring motion of finding himself thrown to the ground and the weight of his pursuers trying to hold him down, the inevitable happened.

He couldn't 'hold it in' any longer.

"GAH, LEO, that's so **DISGUSTING**, you're going to infect all of us!"

"Phew, what'd ya go an' do THAT for, ya got yer pee all over me. YUCK, YUCK, YUCK!"

"Dude, how much can you hold anyway, I feel like I'm drowning here. Ah, man...nasty!"

"Next time, Fearless, go to th'bathroom 'fore we do trackin' exercises!" Raph pushed himself away from the pile. He tried not to touch himself, his hands doing a delicate bit of gesturing as he shook off the excess moisture, "Ew, this is worse than falling in'ta the sewers."

Leonardo sat there on the sewer floor, finally relieved, as his other two brothers stood up to join Raphael in his 'icky' dance. Although embarrassed beyond reason, Leo couldn't help but smile just a little. In a very weird and satisfactory way, he felt rather smug.

Payback was good no matter how it happened.


End file.
